one step towards health, replace toxic sugar with beneficial honey

Honey is a substance produced by bees from the nectar of plants. Honey is a natural ingredient used for its sweetness, nutritious values and used for other health benefits. It is a healthier option as comparative to sugar. It is mainly used as a sweetening agent and has some medical uses. In cosmetics, it has the role of fragrance and a moisturizer in soaps and medicines. Sometimes people confuse honey with bee pollen, bee venom and with royal jelly.

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What Is Honey?

Honey is nothing but mostly sugar containing vitamins, iron, minerals, mix amino acids, zinc and antioxidants. With this it has the properties of anti-inflammatory, antioxidants and antibacterial. (1)

Sometimes people use it for the treatment of wound healing, dry skin, burns, diabetic foot ulcers, acne and for many other diseases by direct application on skin. (2)

How Is Honey Made?

This journey begins with honeybees and flowers. Honeybees extract the nectar and enzymes (present in the saliva of bees) break down that sugar into fructose and glucose. And it is stored in their honeycombs which used to feed the hive in the winter season. With the passage of time, excess water in the honeycombs evaporates from the constant fanning of bee's wings. And finally, a thick and sticky substance is formed, called honey. (3)

Nutritional Composition Of Honey

The nutritional composition is not fixed. It changes according to the environment, season, varieties of flowering nectar and processing techniques (but we have embedded an image which shows a rough idea). But mostly it consists of carbohydrates and water and also contains small amounts of protein, vitamins, minerals, enzymes and polyphenols. 

nutritional composition of honey

eufic.org

McCance RA & Widdowson EM (2010). The composition of foods. 6th Edition. Cambridge, England: Food Standards Agency. (4)

How Does Honey Work On Applying Directly On Skin?

As we discussed honey has the properties of antifungal and antibacterial. Therefore honey may kill certain types of bacteria and fungus. It creates a barrier for moisture and dust particles that might cause infection and other types of diseases or issues. With this, it contains chemical substances and nutrients which help to heal wounds fastly. (5)

What Are The Health Benefits Of Honey?

Most of the sweetening agents are harmful for our body but honey comes in those few sweeteners which has not any harmful effects on the body (if used in proper way) but carries a lot of benefits within it.

Here are some of the benefits :

Cardiovascular Disease : Honey has antioxidants which might be associated with reduced risk of heart disease.

Cough : Honey has a potential to reduce the cough problem for those people who are suffering from upper respiratory infection and acute night time cough.

Gastrointestinal Disease : It can suppress problems related with gastrointestinal such as diarrhea related to gastrointestinal.

Neurological Disease : It has been studied that honey can play the role of antidepressant, anticonvulsant and anti-anxiety and also helpful in preventing mental disorders.

Wound Care : We have already discussed how honey helps in healing wounds because of chemicals and nutrients that it contains.

Hay Fever : It is used as a nasal spray for curing hay fever and sinus problems.

with all these precious benefits, it also used for curing like these problems

• diabetes
• painful periods
• asthma
• high levels of cholesterol
• ulcers in mouth caused by cancer
• provides energy who are malnourished
• gangrene

So honey provides all these benefits that medicines provide you after spending thousands of money. (6) (7)

How Much Honey Should I Take A Day?

As there is not a fixed quantity of it but due to high sugary in nature, it should be taken in moderation. The World Health Organization says that free sugars don't not have more than 10% of space in your diet. The energy needs of an average adult is 2000 kcal per day. So 10%of it is 200kcal and which comes out to be 60gms of honey a day. So your honey content a day is not more than 60gms in any form. (8)

How Effective It Is?

The effectiveness of honey is different for different problems. There are some studies which show the effectiveness of honey and some studies are finding other benefits of it.

Here is list of some problems for which the effectiveness of honey has been proved

• diabetic foot ulcers
• cough
• dry eyes

• burns
• mouth sores due to radiation or chemical treatments
• skin redness
• wound healing

Possibly Ineffective For

• acne
• sinus infection

Insufficient Evidences To Rate Its Effectiveness

• Diabetes
• Athletic Performance
• Hemorrhoids
• Gingivitis
• Menstrual cramps
• Gangrene
• High cholesterol
• Cold sores
• Stomach flu
• Infertility
• Skin damage caused by radiation therapy
• Poor nutrition
• Infertility
• Sunburn
• Cataracts
• Asthma
• Breaking up thick mucus secretions. 

(9)

What About Safety Concern?

Honey is safe for adults but if it is taken from the nectar of Rhododendrons then it is unsafe for you because it contains toxin which can cause heart problems, blood pressure, and chest pain. 

Diabetic : You can't take a large amount of honey if you are diabetic patient and can increase the amount of blood sugar level. Avoid the application of honey at the exit site of dialysis which increases the risk of infection.

Pollen Allergic : If you are allergic to pollen, then you must avoid the consumption of honey.

For Child : The consumption of honey by a child whose age is not more than 1year then that child might suffer from botulism. So avoid honey as a part of the child's diet.

Honey Vs Sugar

There is no doubt that honey is much better than sugar. As sugar contains vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, mix amino acids, zinc and iron. But this quantity is less than 1% than our daily requirement. For getting noticeable daily requirements, we have to eat a large amount of honey but this can cross the free sugar amount suggested by WHO. So taking 1 spoon of honey is sufficient for the contribution to your energy metabolism.

You might have a question in mind that raw honey is better than processed honey. Already the nutritional content is not so much so during the processing of honey, there is negligible amount of nutrients lost. So it is ok to use both types of honey. (10)

Side Effects Of Honey

All the things in the universe have positive and negative sides. Honey also has some side effects if it is not used in the proper way.

Here are some side effects that you should know about honey before using it and also to make extra sure about honey's both sides :

• Vomiting
• Wheezing
• Asthmatic symptoms
• Irregular heart rhythms
• Excessive perspiration
• Weakness
• Nausea
• Dizziness
• Fainting
• Affect blood sugar level

(11)

So these are some side effects that you might face if it is not used in the right way.

I hope, you found it to be helpful.

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